Generally described, computing devices and communication networks can be utilized to exchange content and other information. In a common application, a computing device can request content from other computing devices via a communication network. For example, a computing device, also referred to as a user computing device or client computing device, may be used by a user to request content, such as text, documents, audio recordings, video, images, animations, and the like. The content request may be transmitted to another computing device, such as a content server or another user computing device that processes the request and provides the requested content or information regarding the request.
In some scenarios, a content server may distribute content to a user computing device as a set of multiple content posts in which a user of the user computing device may be interested. The set of content posts, also referred to as a “feed,” may be selected from a larger set of available content posts based on the degree to which individual content posts correspond to the interests of the user. For example, a user of a social media system may be presented with a feed of content posts that match the user's interests, as determined from the user's demographic characteristics, interactions with the social media system, and the like. As another example, a user of a news service may be presented with a feed of articles based on the user's stated interests, interactions with other content provided by the news service, etc.
From the perspective of a user receiving a content feed, a user experience may be defined in terms of the degree to which content in the feed is of interest to the user. In an effort to provide the most relevant content, systems use various techniques to analyze and select, from a large set of available content, a subset of content that is relevant to a user's interests.